


Day 8: Stab Wound

by MadhouseVagabond



Series: Whump-tober 2019 [8]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Stab Wound, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019, battle buddies, day no. 8, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 16:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadhouseVagabond/pseuds/MadhouseVagabond
Summary: Sometimes the internal wounds hurt more than the external...





	Day 8: Stab Wound

Ryan groaned as his eyes snapped open, sitting up in bed, wincing in pain and holding his side. He calmed his breathing before heaving himself out of bed and making his way to his kitchen, a glass of water the object of his desire. He leaned against the sink and sipped at the lukewarm liquid, wincing every now and then.

It had been nearly a year since the incident, but his wounds still pained and bothered him, internally and externally. He lifted his shirt and looked down at the long scar just above his hip and just off his abdomen. He winced again and a pain he thought he'd get over seized his heart. Tears filled his eyes and his breathing became rapid again. He hadn't expected things to end the way they did, but there was no fighting fate. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing, only to have the images flash fresh in his mind.

He had been hunting down a mole, the one responsible for the deaths and betrayals of so many agents. He'd been tasked secretly by his higher ups to find and eliminate the traitor at all costs and by any means necessary. He'd followed the string of evidence, meager as it was and now was hot on the heels of the asshole who'd caused so many of his friends to die. He rounded the corner and froze, eyes going wide and raised handgun lowering slightly. Before him stood Jeremy, resolute and strong as always, a confidence on his face Ryan had always admired.

"Jeremy? What're you doing here?" he asked.

"You shouldn't be here Ryan," Jeremy replied evenly, voice calm.

"Wait...you? No," Ryan breathed, pain shooting through his heart and strangling him. Jeremy smiled sadly and nodded.

"Sorry buddy, I didn't intend for you to find out this way," he said.

"Why? Why Jeremy?" Ryan choked out.

"You wouldn't understand Ry. I'd like you to, but you won't," Jeremy sighed sadly.

"Well you'd better fucking MAKE me understand! Spill Dooley, now!" Ryan snarled, tears threatening his eyes as he leveled his gun at Jeremy's chest.

"Ryan for fucks sake put that thing away. We both know you aren't going to use it," Jeremy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

He was right, and Ryan knew he was right. He'd never hurt Jeremy, he could never bring himself to harm his partner, his dearest friend. Jeremy meant everything to him, the only one who understood him, who got him. Jeremy had been the one to pull Ryan out of the darkest time in his life, the lad a shining beacon of light that guided him back from the pit he'd been in. Finding out Jeremy had betrayed him, betrayed the Agency, hurt worse than any wound he'd ever suffered. Ryan's lip trembled and his hand shook a little but he stubbornly held his ground.

"I-I will if I have to," he stammered. Jeremy sighed.

"Ryan, tell me something, does anything the Agency does make sense? I mean real sense. Where do our paychecks come from? How are our targets selected? What really happens when the cleanup crew moves in?" he asked.

Ryan paused. Jeremy's questions did make sense, and now that he thought about it the more doubt ebbed at his mind. Was something going on he wasn't aware of?

"Impossible! If something was up I'd have found out by now," he exclaimed.

"Ryan, I'm telling the truth. Trust me," Jeremy said softly. Ryan looked at his partner suspiciously before lowering his gun a little.

"Keep talking," he said.

"I was hired ages ago by a crew in Los Santos to infiltrate and uncover what was really going on here. Several of us joined the Agency to discover the truth. Ryan, the Agency is corrupt! It's all been a lie," the lad explained. Ryan slowly shook his head, words failing him.

"I don't expect you to believe me but please, you've got to trust that I'm being honest," Jeremy begged and stepped forward. Ryan instinctively snapped his gun back up.

"Stay back!"

"Ryan, it's me," Jeremy looked hurt.

"And that should reassure me? Jeremy how could you?" Ryan snapped.

"Ryan, please just think for a moment. Doesn't everything seem a bit weird? A bit off?" Jeremy asked then hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth again. "Ray recognized what was happening."

Ryan froze, the name of his old partner before Jeremy caused deep, painful memories to surface; memories of betrayal, of having to defend himself, of killing his dearest friend, then the years of darkness and anger. He shook his head and swallowed.

"How dare you! Do not bring him into this! How would you even know?" he snarled. Jeremy's face softened.

"Because Ryan, Ray was my partner. He was assigned to infiltrate the Agency years ago and discovered the truth, but before he could relay anything back to us he died," he said softly.

Ryan's legs felt weak and he wanted to scream. Ray? A mole in the Agency for years without him even knowing it? How could he be so blind that he'd let this happen, twice! He shook his head slowly.

"I-I don't believe you," he mumbled.

"Ryan, you gotta trust me man! You're in danger! The Agency is planning on eliminating its top Agents in a suicide mission but they intend to make it look like an accident. That's why I let you discover me and my mission, to warn you," Jeremy explained.

"Don't talk to me like you care about me! You betrayed me!" Ryan cried and raised the gun again.

"I know losing Ray hurt a lot, and I can only imagine how my true intentions must feel. But know that everything we have, everything we are, that's fucking real! You're still my Battle Buddy, and I love you, and I refuse to sit back and watch you get killed!" Jeremy took another step forward. Ryan shot the floor near Jeremy's left foot, the lad not flinching but a sad look coming into his eyes.

"I've already alerted security. They'll be here soon and after some interrogation I'm sure the truth will come out," he wiped at his eyes with his free hand.

"Come with me Ryan! Come with me and we can live our own lives, be who we want to be!" Jeremy held out a hand.

"I AM who I want to be Jer!" Ryan screamed, the lad flinching.

The sounds of running footsteps approaching reached their ears and Ryan risked a glance back, seeing the security Agent's shadows in the light behind him. Jeremy moved quickly, using his size and speed to his advantage. He dashed to Ryan, knocked the gun out of his hand, grabbed the gent's wrist painfully and wrenched it behind his back, while at the same time grabbing Ryan's bone handle knife he'd given him for Christmas last year out of its sheath and pressing it to Ryan's throat as the security Agents rounded the corner, guns leveled at him.

"Back up and hold your fire or I will kill him!" the lad ordered in a commanding voice.

Ryan's breathing was fast. He hadn't expected Jeremy to act this way, was unprepared for the sudden attack, and now he was helpless, once again at the mercy of one of his partners. The security Agents looked at each other and then back to Ryan and Jeremy, confused as to what to do.

"Do as he says," he ordered. The men hesitated before nodding and lowering their guns and backing away.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this Ryan. I wanted us to ride off into the sunset like in those cheesy movies, just us against the world y'know?" Jeremy whispered to him as he began to back the two up.

"Fuck you, traitor! If I ever get the chance I'm putting you down, permanently!" Ryan growled.

He felt Jeremy pause for a second and in that moment he acted, going limp in the lad's arms and falling to the floor, Jeremy unprepared for the shift in weight. As Ryan hit the floor he pulled the knife out of Jeremy's thigh sheath and slashed out, the lad dodging just in time to avoid getting a nasty cut.

"Ryan, stop! I don't want to fight you!" Jeremy cried as he looked up at his partner.

"You gave up that choice when you decided to stab me and the Agency in the back Jer!" Ryan spat and lunged.

The two fought, both holding their punches each time, both not wanting to hurt the other despite the circumstance. Finally Jeremy made a distressed noise and stabbed, the knife sinking into Ryan's side above his hip and just off his abdomen, not fatally deep but still painful. Ryan cried out in pain and instinctually slashed out, cutting Jeremy across the chest deep, the lad screaming in pain and stumbling back, hand pressed to the wound.

The two locked eyes, Ryan seeing tears in Jeremy's and felt the sting of his own. He wanted so desperately to hug the lad, to take everything back, every instinct in his body telling him to protect the smaller man.

"If I ever see you here again, I'll finish the job! That's a promise I won't fail to keep!" he spat, hearing his voice and the words he was saying as if they weren't his own.

Jeremy looked so broken as Ryan spoke, tears streaming down his face as he sniffled and backed away, Ryan ordering the security Agents to stand down when they moved forward, eyes never leaving Jeremy's as the lad disappeared.

“Goodbye Ryan. Remember that I’ll always love you,” Jeremy’s last words echoed in Ryan’s head, breaking him, the gent finally allowing the tears to fall.

Now, a year later, the pain from the stab wound hurt fresh again, but the pain of his broken heart hurt even more, a wound that would never heal. He'd left the Agency after recovering, not having the will to go on without his Battle Buddy by his side. When it was discovered that the Agency did indeed have a secret agenda that involved killing off its top Agents, Ryan was hit with a wave of regret. He'd traveled to Los Santos to find Jeremy, but found no trace of the lad anywhere, not even sure where to begin looking, nor even if he had the courage to face his ex partner.

Ryan placed his water cup in the sink and trudged back to his room, leaning up against the wall and sliding down it until he was sat on the floor. He hugged his knees to his chest and held his face in his hands, sobs wracking his shoulders. He wanted to take it all back, all the angry words he'd said, all the hate he'd felt, the way he'd treated Jeremy. He wanted to go back to that moment and listen to the lad begging him to run away with him. But he couldn't, and now he had to live with the regret of everything he'd done. He'd lost yet another partner, and somehow, this loss was worse than when he'd lost Ray.

He'd been so close to Jeremy. Like two halves of the same whole. They worked so perfectly in sync with each other, scaring many in the Agency. Living without Jeremy by his side was like losing a limb and never fully learning how to function without it. Ryan cried as memories of the lad flooded back, each one making him sob harder.

His stab wound was a permanent physical reminder of that night, while his broken heart the internal.

**Author's Note:**

> The amount of mental trauma I’m putting the guys through...


End file.
